1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network printing technology.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a network printing system has been actively developed, which performs a printing job via a network. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-271347 discloses a network printing system in which printing is performed at a printer connected to a network such as the Internet.
FIG. 25 is a schematic diagram for explaining a conventional network printing system. The network printing system in FIG. 25 is configured as an extranet environment in which an intranet environment 200 is connected to an intranet environment 300 via a network 400. In such a configuration, it is possible to perform a print job at a printer arranged in the intranet environment 300 by giving a printing instruction from a host computer (print server) arranged in the intranet environment 200, and vice versa.
However, during a printing process, there is a possibility that an error such as a paper-out condition, a paper jam condition, or a toner empty condition occurs in the printer thereby causing interruption in the printing process. If the host computer is not notified about such an error, then there is a possibility that the problem is left unattended.
Meanwhile, there is also a demand for a functionality by which it is possible to obtain the status of devices arranged in a printing system.